Time Westergren may not be a household name, but his ad-free Internet radio station, Pandora Radio, has been providing customizable tunes to its users since 2000.
“Why would you tune into a radio station programmed for you and half a million other people?” Westergren asked a crowd of nearly 200 at Boston University’s Morse Auditorium last night at a talk sponsored by the BU chapter of American Civil Liberties Union and BU Free Culture.
Westergren, founder of the Music Genome Project, told The Daily Free Press he is committed to Pandora because of what he believes users gain from using the service: “discovery.”
Free Culture President Richard Jones, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said his group decided to sponsor the event because there are philosophical similarities between the club and Pandora. He was drawn to Pandora’s ideas of “free music, digital rights and changing the business model of the music industry.”
Westergren, a Stanford graduate, told the audience he studied music theory in college and worked as a touring musician after graduation.
“I learned how hard it is for musicians to make a living.” he said. “A lot of them should be making a living but don’t because no one knows about them.”
Westergren told attendees he got the idea for a music genome project — a tool that identifies music similar to what users already like — in 2000 after working as a film composer, when he had to translate a director’s vision into a musical form.
The genome project breaks down songs into 400 musical components that are “the building blocks of a song.” When users enter a specific song or artist they like into the system, the service determines what songs are musically similar, Westergren said.
To keep the music fresh, a team of professional musicians find new tunes by trolling the Internet for unsigned bands, or users submit their own songs electronically and through the mail. Selected songs then become part of the song library, nearing half a million, he said. Team members have music theory degrees and are practicing musicians.
Westergren said music industry workers initially disagreed with the idea of an ad-free, personalized radio station.
“Pandora represents something they don’t understand,” Westergren said. “It threatens their business model.”
The site currently boasts 11 million registered users in the United States and 20,000 to 25,000 new listeners tune in every day.
Currently, it does not offer its services to listeners outside of the United States, though it did when it was launched, Westergren said. The company is looking to regain the few million users it lost due to international licensing laws.
“A large percentage of our revenue goes to paying publishing fees, which go to recording companies, and performance fees, which go to artists,” Westergren said. “AM and FM radio stations don’t have to pay performance fees.”
Westergren also demonstrated Pandora’s newest technology, which allows users to use the service from a Sprint or AT’T cellphone
Cary Shaw, a Boston-area resident and DJ, said she is inspired by the amount of new music she finds using the site.